Many of the ski runs on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland remain shut on the Christmas long weekend because of a lack of snow.
At the Mt. Washington Alpine Resort on Saturday, only eight of 81 alpine runs were open, according to its website, while the daily snow report warned visitors to “be mindful of early season conditions and pay attention to marked hazards.”
The resort currently has a snow base of 23 centimetres, but said: “We’ve been making snow and expect Mother Nature to deliver more soon.”
Farther north, Mount Cain delayed the start of its season till after Christmas due to a lack of snow.
Originally scheduled to open on Dec. 17, the hill is now hoping to open Dec. 27.
Erin Pickering, chair of the Mount Cain Alpine Park Society, said in an online update that there still wasn’t enough snow to run the ski lifts as of Wednesday.
“But the forecast is looking better and I’m confident that Mount Cain is on Santa’s nice list this year,” she said.
Much of southern Canada is experiencing uncharacteristically dry, warm weather this winter, Environment Canada head climatologist David Phillips said this week.
El Niño — a periodic weather system that brings warm weather to much of North America — is partly to blame. This year, the system began early and strongly, Phillips said. As well, Arctic air pushing down into southern latitudes hasn’t been as cold as normal.
The result is a greener-than-usual Christmas in many locations.
In the Lower Mainland, operations at the North Shore mountains and Whistler Blackcomb have also been also affected.
“Mother Nature has presented us with a few challenges here in the early season, but our teams have taken advantage of optimal weather conditions to make snow and expand our terrain offerings, and will continue to do so as conditions permit,” said Dane Gergovich, a spokesman for Whistler Blackcomb.
“We’re expecting cooler temperatures heading into the holiday weekend, and there’s snow in the forecast starting Christmas Day, which bodes well for our snowmaking and terrain expansion efforts, and fun for guests who are arriving to celebrate the holiday here in Whistler.”
As of Friday, just 19 of 27 Whistler Blackcomb lifts covering a quarter of the available ski terrain were open (as well as 103 of 276 trails).
Weekend weather forecasts project cooler temperatures with snowfall occurring late Monday afternoon into Tuesday.
This season is behind where it was a year ago, when more lifts and more of the mountain were open by Christmas.
“That said, our teams are ready to mobilize and make more snow at a moment’s notice,” Gergovich said.
The southwesterly atmospheric river Whistler is expecting to arrive on Christmas evening will also bring rain and snow to the three North Shore mountains.
Mt. Seymour has no runs open and a base of just 16 centimetres.
“It’s too warm, we’ve lost most of our snow, and we’re just waiting for an improvement in temperature and snowfall,” spokesman Simon Whitehead said. “As soon as we are good to go, we let everyone know.”
Seymour is working on a two-day rolling window, Whitehead said.
“If we knew there was snow coming, say, tomorrow, we’d be open the day after that. We can turn things around very, very quickly,” he said.
“I think some people are concerned that the ski season is bust … but one in eight years we miss Christmas. It’s not unusual. We have a very, very long ski season ahead of us.”
Grouse Mountain did not immediately respond to a request for information, but according to its website it has had 149 centimetres of snow this season, with snow depths of 60 centimetres at the top lift and 50 centimetres at the bottom.
Six of its seven lifts remain closed.
In West Vancouver, Cypress Mountain has a mid-mountain base of 61 centimetres, its website said.
Because of the mild weather, the Lions Express is closed while Easy Rider (beginner terrain only) and Eagle Express (intermediate and expert terrain only) are open for day and night skiing.
— With files from The Canadian Press
